Acura NSX: Hot Drive, Tepid Image

The Acura NSX 2017: At this price, you’re entitled to be a little picky.
Illustration:
Courtesy of Aston Martin

By

Vito J. Racanelli

Sept. 22, 2017 9:41 p.m. ET

In 1990, Acura, Honda’s luxury brand, introduced the NSX, its first exotic sports car, built to take on the likes of Ferrari, Porsche, and Lamborghini. The result was an everyday drive acclaimed by critics and consumers alike for its performance, looks, and price. With a groundbreaking all-aluminum body, the 270-horsepower model cost about $65,000, much cheaper than European rivals.

Fast-forward to 2017, and Acura is aiming higher in power and price. The second-generation NSX is a 573-hp thunder machine that can run with any car in its class. But it’s not even a little cheaper than the competition. The new NSX’s manufacturer’s suggested retail price, $156,000, puts it solidly in Teutonic territory, battling the likes of the Porsche 911 Turbo. The car we drove included options such as carbon-ceramic rotors and carbon-fiber parts—and it costs a cool $205,000, rubbing elbows with the bottom range of the McLaren and Ferrari crowd.

Rough company, that. Such a princely sum does, however, buy you a sleek rocket strapped to a twin-turbocharged, 3.5 liter V6 engine. That—along with three electric motors—pushes the NSX’s 3,800 pounds from zero to 60 miles per hour in an eye-watering three seconds. Top speed is 191 mph. We like almost all of it. There’s the sharp handling and exhilarating road performance that cries out for a ragtop version. The engine has four modes. Toggle to Quiet mode and twin electric motors—one on each front wheel to help acceleration, braking, and cornering—silently propel the car at low speeds.

Front-end motors also give the NSX all-wheel drive and help achieve torque vectoring, allowing the car’s computer to vary power to each wheel without braking or cutting power, as conventional AWD systems do. This aids stability, handling, and performance, which becomes abundantly clear in the Sport+ mode, when the NSX roars to life. The acceleration and steering tighten up considerably, and the engine grows angry in tone. Corners at speed are handled like a leopard.

That control, combined with the car’s short nose, produces a vibrant, connected feel. The front wheels’ reaction to steering changes make it seem as if the driver’s thoughts are directly linked to the front end, and that’s pretty cool.

In Track mode—when the engine switches from a low growl to a scream—the NSX’s responses are even better. We got the car to 153 mph for a few moments, and we’re pretty sure everyone on both sides of Route 17 heard it.

The NSX has an exotic and sexy look, as many wolf whistles attested. We found the profile more predictable than seductive, however, and vaguely reminiscent of other high-performance cars.

The cabin is snug rather than tight, with plenty of legroom, but getting into the NSX, even for someone of average height, requires limb origami. There’s plenty of burnished aluminum, stitched leather, and Alcantara, a soft microfiber, but it’s not blingy. The dashboard and steering-wheel controls are easy to use, and the functions are intuitive—not always the case in cars like these. The NSX is rated at 21 miles a gallon, but we got 23.

Of course, at this price, you’re entitled to be a little picky. Visibility was generally good, but merging from the left was more exciting than necessary due to a poor right-rear view. The selector knob and buttons for park, drive, and reverse don’t exactly evoke a racy feel, and there are no cup holders. Come on, Acura.

Here’s the brand’s major problem: When you’ve spent $200,000, do you really want to tell folks you’re driving an Acura? That pops the wonderful emotional bubble a supercar gives you.

The first NSX was a great buy—such good value that it initially sold for tens of thousands dollars above its MSRP. But the new NSX has abandoned its price advantage, and Acura still doesn’t have the panache of Porsche or Ferrari. A great drive, in short, but it’s a high price to pay for a brand with an unexciting image.

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